50 years ago

July 21, 1976

— History hurdle for courthouse plan cleared?

Apparently there isn’t anything of historical significance about the Barry County Courthouse, at least to the extent that a remodeling project will be delayed much further. The site, not the present structure, once was the Confederate capital of Missouri, but that appears to be the extent of its historical designation.

County officials received word from Congressman Gene Taylor that federal approval for the remodeling project was on the way.

The County Court had become concerned because contracts had already been awarded to Lester Prewitt Construction Co. for the $42,000 project, which will remodel the circuit courtroom, rewire portions of the courthouse and provide new offices on a balcony overlooking the courtroom.

Funding includes $21,000 each from Barry County and the Missouri Council on Criminal Justice. Because of the federal involvement, the project required review under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Presiding Judge Nolan McNeill said delays could increase costs to the contractor. The court wanted to avoid imposing additional expenses on the Prewitt firm.

The project will include a lowered ceiling in the courtroom used by Circuit Judge William Pinnell, air conditioning, new curtains, chairs, benches and carpeting.

McNeill said the Exeter contractor was also working on the Cassville Neighborhood Facility and could begin courthouse work as soon as formal approval arrived.

— Election judges named for primary vote Aug. 3

Judges representing both political parties have been named to conduct the Aug. 3 primary election in Barry County.

County Clerk Howard Bounous made the selections from recommendations submitted by township party organizations.

Each of the county’s 26 townships will have at least two judges from each party, with larger precincts receiving three. The judges will select clerks to assist with voting during polling hours from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Bounous also announced absentee ballot counting teams.

Democratic absentee judges are Bob Malarkey and Clairece Hall of Cassville and Richard Monroe of Monett.

Republican absentee judges are Jewell Davis of Purdy and June Smith and Curt Thomas of Cassville.

40 years ago

July 23, 1986

— Grandview firm leases IDC building for plant here

Cassville Industrial Development Corporation officials executed leases Tuesday with a Grandview firm to locate a manufacturing division here.

Donald D. Row, president of R&W Manufacturing Co., will locate in the 20,000-square-foot IDC building on West 11th Street.

Garrett Manufacturing Co., a division of Masco Inc., a Michigan firm, has been leasing the facility but released the building in favor of R&W.

Row said he would be in full operation here by Aug. 15, manufacturing a number of parts for Caterpillar Inc. of Peoria, Ill.

Officials of the IDC, Bob Mitchell, vice president; William Easley, treasurer; and Bill LeCompte, member, concurred in the signing of the five-year lease.

The IDC, including Truman Baker, president, who was out of town, has been negotiating with Row for several months.

Included in the property he acquired are three structures, one of 10,000 square feet and two of 5,000 each. The location, once housing a modular home construction firm and later the first home for Wells Aluminum here, has for a number of years been under lease to Garrett. When Masco announced months ago it would close the local facility, IDC officials began seeking a tenant for the locally owned building.

Row said his initial employment would be eight to 10 persons. He said that number should grow to 20 in six months. He said interviews had been conducted with former Garrett employees and others. Those interested could leave their names, address and telephone number with the Cassville Chamber of Commerce until the mid-August date when he would fully staff the local concern.

The Cassville operation will be an expansion of his Grandview firm, R&W. He said about 300 different parts contracts to Caterpillar would be made here. Equipment in the building belongs to the Illinois-based firm.

Row installed the machinery here for Garrett operations while he was an employee of Caterpillar in 1977. He will add equipment for completion of the contracts he holds.

The five-year lease signed Tuesday will put part of an industrial shutdown back into operation. Masco, still phasing out Garrett operations here by completing existing contracts, had not announced shutdown dates. Jerry Greuel, plant manager, said the 40,000-square-foot Garrett main building was still involved in manufacturing.

Row, a former Caterpillar employee, was with the company 27 years before acquiring his own plant at the south edge of Kansas City.

The property leased to R&W was purchased through IDC stock purchases for the original location of Wells Aluminum. Two expansions of floor space have been added since Garrett leased the location several years ago. The property is owned by the stockholders of Cassville IDC.

— Seligman water line, sewer action

Residents outside the city limits at Seligman who receive water service will have to maintain pressure in the lines themselves and at their own expense. The decision came in a recent meeting of the city council, according to Zelda Relethford, city clerk.

The clerk said action came when a resident of Heritage Heights, Paul Hopkins, appeared before council to complain about water pressure in the 10-unit area. Rated at 20 psi, residents have been told the low pressure could prevent the city from maintaining a good level of drinking water.

Council was instructed by attorney Emory Melton that on Aug. 1 it should close the master meter supplying the area outside city limits unless those citizens involved installed and maintained, at their own expense, a booster pump to elevate the water pressure to the development.

Other business before the council, including members Edna Tatman, Tommy Evans, Earl Bolton, James Appleton and Mayor Johnny Corn, included a decision to pursue grant funds for building a wastewater treatment plant for Seligman. The town is currently served entirely by individual septic tanks.

Other action included consideration and approval of plans to purchase a backhoe for the city.

Visitors included John McDaniel, John Petty and Lowell Treadwell from the Sugar Creek Special Road District. They explained problems with district machinery that was inoperable and the inability to assist in repair of city streets.

Council also received a report that work was nearly completed on replacement of a number of water lines. The project, costing between $45,000 and $48,000, is designed to replace leaking lines that were losing about a million gallons of water a month.

The project includes replacing 18,400 feet of water lines that were installed 55 years ago. Sixteen new fire hydrants are included.

Mayor Corn said the “expensive project will pay for itself in pumping and water loss costs.”

— Combined Fescue Festival, Livestock Show went well

Despite a new location and temperatures topping 100 degrees, Cassville’s two major agricultural recognition events went off with little hitch Saturday. The 12th annual Fescue Capital USA Festival and 16th annual Barry County Youth Livestock Show were well attended.

Sponsors of the Fescue Festival handed out more tickets than were used at the dinner, and livestock numbers were down, but not as much as expected with the hottest day of the year.

Foresight by Cassville Chamber of Commerce officials to place a couple of tents on the Cassville R-IV School grounds helped by providing shade. There was also an early evening breeze through the Flat Creek bottom where the event began at 6:30 p.m.

Dr. Chip Kammerlohr, Chamber president, said about 600 people were served the pit beef dinner with all the trimmings. The livestock show attracted 24 exhibitors with a total of 80 animals.

All divisions were represented except swine.

A decline in the local hog industry and the extreme heat contributed to the absence, show officials said.

Agriculture committee members Ron Miller, Cherry Warren, Truman Baker, Dr. Eugene Miekley, Bill Horner and Corky Stehlik, along with longtime bean cooker Art Hegi, prepared the meal.

The event was open to Barry County 4-H and FFA members. Assisting were FFA advisers Dennis Epperly, Southwest; Lowell McInturff, Wheaton; Leonard McGee, Purdy; Gene Rhodes, Monett; and Nancy England, 4-H youth educational assistant.

Festival sponsors included Schallert Seed, Ronald Miller, State Bank of Purdy, First Security Savings and Loan, Pennington Seed, Commerce Bank of Barry County, Cassville Ford Center, Great Plains Construction, Cassville Farmers Exchange, Barry County Co-op, Miller Seed, Stockton Seed House, George Ray-Sons, Boatmen’s Bank, United Seed, Empire Seed, Davis and Garrett Seed and Feed, Brothers Tractor and Implement, Security Bank of Southwest Missouri, United Savings and Loan Association, Bill Horner Oil, MFA Oil Co., and nine Cassville real estate firms.

Division winners included Jamie Miller (grand champion sheep); Shonda Terry (dairy showmanship); Raymond Schmidt (grand champion Brown Swiss); Pat Stewart (grand champion Jersey); Jill Elwing (champion beef female and showmanship); Aaron Nowland (champion beef bull); Randy Stewart (champion dairy goat); Sherry Leverich (dairy goat showmanship); and Amy Hammen (public speaking).

Mrs. Ella Frost, Chamber secretary, said agriculture committee members and the board of directors would review the event. Early comments indicated the festival and livestock show would continue as a combined event, with the eastern edge of the Cassville school campus potentially developed into a permanent livestock exhibit facility.

30 years ago

July 17, 1996

— Facility launches Barry Electric into second century of service

Board members stood side by side Monday, with shovels in hand, in the middle of an empty field that will soon become the site of a new headquarters for Barry Electric Cooperative. The nine-member board celebrated the beginning of the $1.5 million construction project by hosting a public groundbreaking.

The new 24,000-square-foot facility, which will be located on a 10-acre tract of land west of the Assembly of God Church in Cassville on Business 37 North, propels the cooperative into its second half-century of service.

Construction of the new headquarters also marks the end of a two-year planning and design process.

Steady growth over the past 50 years is the catalyst behind the new facility.

“As the county has grown, the community has grown and the cooperative has grown,” said David Cupps, chairman of the Barry Electric board.

Manager Bill Shiveley echoed this sentiment.

“We outgrew our office and warehouse long ago,” said Shiveley. “Where in 1946 a handful of employees found plenty of room to work, today 23 employees work elbow-to-elbow in our office. The Main Street building has served us well. We’ve simply outgrown it.”

Growth of the local cooperative can be charted by studying the number of customer hookups and the miles of line Barry Electric serves.

In April 1946, when the cooperative was created, there were 1,930 customers and 155 miles of line. Last month, Barry Electric billed 8,252 customers who are served by 925 miles of line.

Shiveley said the cooperative has picked up 669 new customers in the past two years alone.

The new utility headquarters will bring office and warehousing functions together again under one roof. Currently, operations are spread out between three separate locations.

“Our new building will mean better service for members, improvements in workflow and communications for the staff, and dramatic energy savings,” explained Shiveley. “This project is a great show-and-tell on the why and how of energy efficiency.”

Architects and construction managers for the project are Adams & Associates Inc. of Nevada. The Adams firm has designed and managed construction for a number of cooperatives in five Midwest states. More than two years ago, the architectural group began detailed interviews with Barry Electric personnel to compile current and projected square footage needs for building space, equipment and vehicle storage, parking and other site areas.

Their analysis concluded that Barry Electric’s headquarters on Main Street needed to more than double in size. Enlarging the existing structures was not a reasonable option, according to Shiveley.

At that time, the board decided to sell the original building and apply the proceeds toward construction of a new headquarters. A suitable building site was purchased in October 1995, and preliminary designs were developed on the architect’s computers at the Cassville headquarters.

Adams said crews will begin the construction process by concentrating on the building pad. He hopes to have the slab ready for steel by October. Adams predicts that the frame of the building will not be erected until early spring.

The facility should be ready for occupancy by mid-July 1997.

The work sequence schedule includes 178 tasks and involves seven contractors.

Contractors for the project include: R.D. Dale Inc. of Joplin, prime contractor; Allen’s Mechanical of Springfield, mechanical and plumbing; Bill’s Electric of Webb City, electrical and communications; Stewart Construction of Cassville, water and sanitary sewer; and Hillcrest Landscaping of Nevada, landscaping.

— Groundbreaking at Roaring River starts new construction

The largest construction project in Missouri state park history is scheduled to begin this month at Roaring River State Park in Cassville. A groundbreaking ceremony was held last Thursday to officially launch construction on the $4 million-plus lodge complex.

The event was held at the construction site, which sits atop the hill above the existing location.

The park’s natural beauty served as an appropriate backdrop for the hour-long ceremony, which included a series of speeches by public officials.

“This wouldn’t have happened without hard work and cooperation,” said Doug Eiken, director of the Missouri Division of State Parks.

Other members of state government on hand to speak at the event were Rep. Sam Gaskill, Sen. Emory Melton and David A. Shorr, director of the Department of Natural Resources.

Shorr said approximately 3.4 million people per year visit Roaring River State Park.

“It is the most visited park in our system,” he said. “We’ve known for years it (the lodge and restaurant) needed to be improved.”

The 47,000-square-foot facility will contain a retail store, 26 guest rooms, a restaurant and administrative offices. Shorr said the project would be finished by late fall 1997.

The bid for the new lodge was awarded to Edgewater Construction Co. of Eureka Springs, Ark., for approximately $3.9 million.

Financing for the lodge comes from the state park earnings fund, which is derived from concession operations revenue and other park fees. Additional improvements, including the entrance road and infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines, will be funded from the parks and soils sales tax approved by voters in 1984.

Once the new lodge is completed, the current restaurant and motel will be demolished. The lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s will be kept as a park store.

The ceremony attracted a crowd of about 40 spectators, including members of local government, park employees and representatives from the Cassville Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Development Corporation.